How does the uDac honestly stack up? - Page 6

Has anyone compared the $300 DACs with the Beresford Caiman in the same price range?  It seems to be getting some good press lately.

I just recently got a DAC Extasy and I have to say it performs much, much better than I was expecting. I'm comparing it to an HK receiver from yester year decoding SPDIF from an onboard sound card.  Still, I didn't expect so much difference.  Now I'd like to upgrade to the $300 range.

I've liked the uDac out of my Powerbook with the headphone jack, and the line out into my a/v receiver, as well as to a Mororola bluetooth transmitter. But I just switched it into my Mac Pro tried the line out to my EF5, and the synergy leaves much to be desired. I had good  results with the EF5 and my DAC Straight, but the Straight needs a higher output level for the EF5 the way I am using it now. I wish I had gotten a ^ DAC Extasy instead, it sounds like that has the correct output level for my needs.

A little OT, but the reason I tried this is because the output level on the Straight was adequate (barely) for my HE-5 out of the EF5, but they are out for service at the moment, and surprisingly the K701 I am using for awhile with this desktop rig needs even more juice. I turned the gain switch on the EF5 to low and that helped a bit, as did fiddling with the volume levels, but the uDac definitely has SQ problems with this combo. I tried the headphone out with my ESW-9s and they sound fine, the same as out of my Powerbook.

So my slightly educated guess is that the problem is a combination of having two analog volume controls in the signal chain, as well as the uDac having some problems of the "scaling up" variety.

is the udac better than the ibasso d2+ boa?

It's overrated like most things on head-fi.

I bought the uDAC because of all the over-the-top positive, raging fangirl reviews here at Head-Fi. I thought it was going to be the best deal of the century. Turns out it sounds just like my Sony X1050's line out with slightly less warmth. I liked the more natural, analog sounding x1050 more so sold the uDAC again. I am currently looking for a DAC that will be a real upgrade and so far have come across the Purepiper DAC, the V-DAC, the StyleAudio Carat-Emerald and the Valab Nos DAC. 

So yeah, the uDAC is pretty over-hyped. In reality I think it sounds as good as $100 can buy. That dude over at Headphonia liked the $90 Fiio E7 better though.  

That E7 looks interesting, haven't heard it but would like to. The uDac is an incredible bang for the buck device because of its versatility and good sound; it's extremely hard to beat for $100. I would never sell it because I can use it in so many different ways.

I will be trying it out as a S/PDIF converter soon when I get my USB isolator and a Bel Canto Dac 2 soon. Just temporary until I get a Bravo, but I am glad to have the uDac, it's a real "Swiss army knife".

Whether using it with my laptop/iPad, as a S/PDIF converter, or with its pre-outs for my bluetooth transmitter, it always seems to work out well.